7th Grade ELA

Completed outlines are due at the beginning of the hour on Monday. 

Monday’s blog has the readings for your reference.

Reminder that tomorrow is your Root 5 quiz

Yesterday, as a class, we completed the graphic organizer for one of the myths.  Today, this was  developed into a sample essay.  Looking at the rubric today,we discussed the criteria for a “Solid” essay.  We determined what we would give our class essay and what elements need to be improved.   This should ground students in moving forward with their own essay.

Students started filling out their graphic organizers for the myth of their choice.  We will continue to work on this in class tomorrow after the quiz and start drafting by Monday.

Visit Monday’s blog for the links to the readings.

 

We are continuing to work on the sample essay outline as a class.  We are almost done with it.  As soon as we finish students will have to choose the myth they will focus on for their outline/paper, they will complete the template/outline and begin drafting.  Tentatively the essay will be due at the beginning of next week.

Study roots 5 for Friday’s quiz

Yesterday’s post had the links to the readings.  Revisit the myth you want to work on and read it again.

We are continuing to work through the sample classroom outline:  We Do, You Do, I Do.  Below you will find the links to the Myths we have read in class.  Make sure to choose the myth you want to work on individually and reread for more understanding and in-depth thinking so that your reasoning in the paper can be elaborate and detailed.

H.W.  Finish up list #5 Roots

 

“Promehteus”  https://in01001403.schoolwires.net/cms/lib02/IN01001403/Centricity/Domain/1196/Prometheus%20myth.pdf

 

“Orpheus & Eurydice”

https://in01001403.schoolwires.net/cms/lib02/IN01001403/Centricity/Domain/532/orpheus_and_eurydice.pdf

 

“Icarus & Daedalus”

https://westenglish7.weebly.com/uploads/2/8/8/3/28833613/icarus___daedalus_phaethon.pdf

 

“Phaethon: Son of Apollo”

https://fhs.dearbornschools.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/1400/2016/01/Phaethon-Son-of-Apollo-.pdf

 

Continued modeling the writing process using the graphic organizer.  Students took the quiz over Roots #4 and worked on Roots #5 worksheet which is due on Tuesday.

H.W.  Roots #5 worksheet if you did not complete it in class

Students were given an essay prompt/TDA for the mythology unit along with an outline/graphic organizer to start off this writing unit.  I am modeling the development of the thesis and supporting ideas and will complete an essay with each class before they are asked to complete one on their own.  So far, we have been able to create a hook, a thesis, and for some classes we have started with the first paragraph on the graphic organizer.  We will continue to work on this in the coming days.

Tomorrow we are scheduled to go to the library   – please have your book with you.

Quiz over Roots #4 tomorrow

We took a quiz that entailed having to identify the passage that supported the answer.  Students struggled with this so we will be focusing on how to answer questions written in this format.

We went over the homework questions for “Icarus and Daedalus” in class.  These were also checked in.

H.W. New questions were handed out for tonight.  Be thorough with your answers and follow the conventions of English.  Below I pasted the reading of “Daedalus and Icarus” if you need to refer to it to answer the questions.   Continue studying roots #4 for Friday’s quiz.

“Icarus and Daedalus”

Among all those mortals who grew so wise that they learned the secrets of the gods, none was
more cunning than Daedalus.  He once built, for King Minos of Crete, a wonderful Labyrinth of winding ways so cunningly tangled up and twisted around that, once inside, you could never find your way out
again without a magic clue. But the king’s favor veered with the wind, and one day he had his
master architect imprisoned in a tower. Daedalus managed to escape from his cell; but it seemed
impossible to leave the island, since every ship that came or went was well guarded by order of
the king.

At length, watching the sea-gulls in the air—the only creatures that were sure of liberty—he
thought of a plan for himself and his young son Icarus, who was captive with him.
Little by little, he gathered a store of feathers great and small. He fastened these together with thread,
molded them in with wax, and so fashioned two great wings like those of a bird. When they were done,
Daedalus fitted them to his own shoulders, and after one or two efforts, he found that by waving his
arms he could winnow the air and cleave it, as a swimmer does the sea. He held himself aloft,
wavered this way and that with the wind, and at last, like a great fledgling,
he learned to fly.

Without delay, he fell to work on a pair of wings for the boy Icarus, and taught him carefully how to use
them, bidding him beware of rash adventures among the stars. “Remember,” said the father, “never to
fly very low or very high, for the fogs about the earth would weigh you down, but the blaze of the sun
will surely melt your feathers apart if you go too near.”

For Icarus, these cautions went in at one ear and out by the other. Who could remember to be careful
when he was to fly for the first time? Are birds careful? Not they! And not an idea remained in the boy’s
head but the one joy of escape.

The day came, and the fair wind that was to set them free. The father bird put on his wings, and, while
the light urged them to be gone, he waited to see that all was well with Icarus, for the two could not fly
hand in hand. Up they rose, the boy after his father. The hateful ground of Crete sank beneath them;
and the country folk, who caught a glimpse of them when they were high above the tree-tops, took it
for a vision of the gods—Apollo, perhaps—with Cupid after him.

At first there was a terror in the joy. The wide vacancy of the air dazed them—a glance downward
made their brains reel.10 But when a great wind filled their wings, and Icarus felt himself sustained,11
like a halcyon-bird in the hollow of a wave, like a child uplifted by his mother, he forgot everything in
the world but joy. He forgot Crete and the other islands that he had passed over: he saw but vaguely
that winged thing in the distance before him that was his father Daedalus. He longed for one draught
of flight to quench the thirst of his captivity: he stretched out his arms to the sky and made towards the
highest heavens.

Alas for him! Warmer and warmer grew the air. Those arms, that had seemed to uphold him, relaxed.
His wings wavered, drooped. He fluttered his young hands vainly—he was falling—and in that terror
he remembered. The heat of the sun had melted the wax from his wings; the feathers were falling, one
by one, like snowflakes; and there was none to help.

He fell like a leaf tossed down the wind, down, down, with one cry that overtook Daedalus far away.
When he returned, and sought high and low for the poor boy, he saw nothing but the bird-like feathers
afloat on the water, and he knew that Icarus was drowned.

The nearest island he named Icaria, in memory of the child; but he, in heavy grief, went to the temple
of Apollo in Sicily, and there hung up his wings as an offering. Never again did he attempt to fly.

 

We are still reading through our Myths and have finished up the last Myth for the unit.  We will begin our 5 paragraph essay tomorrow on one of our readings.   I will go over the format and model the writing.

Reminder that there will be a unit exam over Mythology, Legends, etc., before our Spring Break.

H.W.

“Phaethon Son of Apollo”  can be found at the below link:

https://fhs.dearbornschools.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/1400/2016/01/Phaethon-Son-of-Apollo-.pdf

 

“Icarus” & “Phaethon” – due on Tuesday 

#4Analyze Greek Gods:  What human qualities do the gods in “Phaethon” display?  Include details.

#5Draw Conclusions:  On the basis of the myths you have read, what conclusions can you draw about the attitude of ancient Greeks toward human nature? Use examples from the text.

#6 Evaluate a character:  Was Icarus believable to you – as in, does he have traits of a young boy? Explain whether you think his thoughts and actions are similar to those of a real person.  Also tell whether you think people today can relate to someone like Icarus.

#7  Make inferences:  How do you think Daedulus eventually felt about his decision to fly away from Crete?  Cite details from the myth in your answer.

 

 

Continuing to read through Mythology.  Today we finished “Phaethon:  Son of Apollo”.  This is the last mythology piece we will be reading before we move into our 5 paragraph essay and then, into legends.  Reminder that there will also be a unit test over this unit of mythology/legends, etc.  For any catch up reading, drop by during lunch.

H.W.  Finish responding to the questions over the reading (below in case you lost your paper)

Prepare for list 4 roots quiz on Friday

 

“Icarus” & “Paethon”

#4Analyze Greek Gods:  What human qualities do the gods in “Phaethon” display?  Include details.

#5Draw Conclusions:  On the basis of the myths you have read, what conclusions can you draw about the attitude of ancient Greeks toward human nature? Use examples from the text (in your own words).

#6 Evaluate a character:  Was Icarus believable to you?  Explain whether you think his thoughts and actions are similar to those of a real person.  Also tell whether you think people today can relate to someone like Icarus.

#7  Make inferences:  How do you think Daedulus eventually felt about his decision to fly away from Crete?  Cite details in your own words from the myth.

 

 

H.W. complete Root Words #4